what do you get when you give football fans AK47s?

according to Peter Hitchens: the Arab Spring.

i wish it weren't true, but the enthusiasm for 'regime change' seems to forget this truism:

Just because existing regimes are bad, it does not follow that their replacements will be any better.

i sincerely hope and pray that this will not be so - that what replaces the regimes of Mubarak, Gadafi et al will be ones who govern for the good of their people and not for themselves.

my friend steve has written a great post on politics, reflecting on Daniel, which i would love to see him apply to the current goings-on. Daniel is written to believers, who will by all accounts remain on the outer with the regime changes, if not further so. the good news for them is the apocalyptic vision of the ancient of days, who remains in control despite appearances - for their power is limited and contingent.

talk on galatians 3-4

if you've missed my posts, you've probably missed my voice also. the previous talk on Genesis 3 didn't work, but i think this one on Galatians 3.19-4.7did.

my favourite analogy was that the law is just like Mary Poppins:

she came in for a set period of time, was found to be practically perfect in every way; she taught the children how to tidy up and take their medicine and enjoy life, whilst the parents learnt to love their children. but then they were all off flying kites - and they didn't even notice that the wind and changed and Poppins had left.

Galatians says the law was like a locum. as good as it was, it was not meant to bring life, for God gives life. so Abraham was blessed by God as he trusted him, and Jesus likewise, and the law has now gone. and all are children of God through faith in Jesus.

Rowan Williams on Scripture

i stumbled across this as i stumbled across this old post from the blogging parson. and it's gold.

his argument is

1. christians are people who read scripture - or have scripture read to them.
2. hearing implies silence, we sit as listeners.
3. we imagine that the original audience are in some sense one with us.
he writes:

the ‘time’ in which we hear Scripture is not like ordinary time. We are contemporary with events remote in history; we are caught up in the time of recitation, when we are to reimagine ourselves. For this moment, we exist simply as listeners, suspending our questions while the question is put to us of how we are to speak afresh about ourselves. We stand at a point of origin, and, as listeners, our primary responsibility is to receive.

it sounds like he's already thought through what i want to say. and said it better.

but he's drawn out well for me the implications of being a Christian listener.

further down in his essay he fleshes out both what it looks like to read a text as a listener, as well as to receive said text.

anyway, it was good.

why are people cheering for kate?

part of the reason i feel uncomfortable with people lauding 'kate the christian' is you then have to come up with a reason to distance yourself from the christian brother done for disgusting dodginess.

i don't want people to consider christianity just because christians are good people or nice cooks, in the same way as i don't want them to write it off because of people like the victorian paedophile or the norwegian mass murderer.

rather i want people to consider christianity because they see in Jesus a God who has proven his love for them, and they see in the bible a way of looking at things that makes sense of the world and ourselves, our ability to do great and beautiful things but also to commit great evil.